Great team spirit ‘boosts employee engagement’

In order to boost engagement levels in the office environment, employers should be looking to foster great team spirit, it has been claimed.

According to Institute for Employment Studies (IES), workers who score highly on engagement often attribute their high scores to a positive atmosphere in the office.

The organisation said that by offering praise, getting ‘stuck in’ and encouraging collaboration and creativity, employers can make the working day more enjoyable for employees.

Involving employees in the decision making process and showing people how important a role they play in the organisation is also important, the IES stated.

Dilys Robinson, principal research fellow at IES, said employees are “very appreciative” of good managers who treat their staff with respect.

“Managers are human and can be forgiven for occasional lapses, as long as the employee feels they have been treated with courtesy and recognised as an individual,” she stated.

“The overwhelming image of leaders today is a rather negative one, with politicians, chief executives in banks, aggressive entrepreneurs on TV reality shows, and ‘charismatic’ leaders all having lost currency.”

Ms Robinson said this raises the question of what exactly employees can expect from line managers.

“If line managers are confused about how to behave, it could be because their senior teams are not leading by example,” she said.

“Yet, at this time of continuing economic uncertainty and cutbacks in the public, private and third sectors, line managers are expected to keep their staff engaged.”